Getting to Know Your Opponents

GENDER KICKS 2011 – On Tour, visiting 12 cities

The 2011 Women’s World Cup kicks off on 26 June in the host country of Germany. We are rolling out the pitch and extending an invitation to visit the Boell Arena.
Who are the opponents?
What skills and stories do the teams have to offer?
Can football give social change a kick in the right direction?
To discuss these and other issues, guests from Nigeria and Germany have been invited who share a passion for women’s football.

The Getting to Know Your Opponents Tour implies the question as to how football promotes (gender) democracy in different countries and whether football can kick emancipation in the right direction. Getting to Know Your Opponents is a political and cultural education project that simultaneously whets the appetite for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in summer 2011 in an entertaining way.

The Heinrich Boell Foundation has invited guests from Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria and Germany to the Getting to Know Your Opponents events to inspire an exchange of views on football, culture and socio-political aspects. Depending on the line-up, we would like to discuss the following questions:

What role does women’s football play in the respective country?
What is remarkable and unique with regard to women’s football in the respective country?
Where do women stand in terms of football (at home and abroad) – before and after the World Cup?
What can women gain through football – from a sporting but, above all, social point of view?
In what ways is women’s football promoted politically, if at all?
(How) Do the media report on women’s football?
How do artists and other creative channels address the issue of women’s football?

When and where?

The tour will kick off in Berlin on 5 May 2011, reaching its final in Augsburg on 31 May 2011. The timeframe has been deliberately chosen to take place before the actual tournament phase to increase public awareness for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. The tour comprises a total of 12 events with international guests from Nigeria, Brazil and Mexico as well as (well-known) dialogue partners from Germany. Berlin, March 2011 2

The venues for the games and/or events are:

05 May 2011: Berlin – Kick-off event – Country focus: Nigeria
06 May 2011: Frankfurt – Country focus: Nigeria
09 May 2011: Bochum – Country focus: Nigeria
10 May 2011: Dresden – Country focus: Nigeria
16 May 2011: Bremen – Country focus: Brazil
17 May 2011: Heidelberg – Country focus: Brazil
19 May 2011: Mönchengladbach – Country focus: Brazil
20 May 2011: Hamburg – Country focus: Brazil
24 May 2011: Leverkusen – Country focus: Mexico
25 May 2011: Halle – Country focus: Mexico
27 May 2011: Wolfsburg – Country focus: Mexico
30 May 2011: Augsburg – Country focus: Mexico

How the events are structured

As a rule, events will kick off at 6 pm with the screening of the documentary “Steffi Jones – My Life”, a portrait of the President of the Organising Committee for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2011. This will be followed by a moderated panel discussion on the above-mentioned questions starting at 7 pm. The events will be accompanied by photo exhibitions, other art projects and games and activities such as a football quiz or raffles.